La Mia Sorellina
by AgentFraniJones
Summary: A single person can change your future. Or your past. For Tony, an eight year old girl is going to do both.
1. Prologue

**A/N: Long time no contact guys! So I've been away for about a month and it's a long story evolving school camp, exams, essays and friendship problems. I won't bore you with the details. So anyway, my new story! The title roughly translates to "My Baby Sister". So you can guess what it is about. This is set in season 8. ENJOY! (NCIS is not mine, it is property of CBS and DPB)**

**Prologue**

Amber Cooper held on tightly to her daughter's hand as they walked through the small laneway. Her eight year-old girl's name was Alexandria Eve; legally Alexandria had no last name. Amber still couldn't believe that she'd gotten away with that. However, that wasn't her concern as she walked briskly. Alex was had turned eight, and now they were in danger.

"Mummy?"

"Yes sweetie?"

"I think there's someone following us"

Amber knew it was a bad idea to go down the alley, but it was the quickest route to _his _home. She knew they were going to kill her but the least she could do was find a safe place for Alexandria. He was going to keep her safe.

"Amber! I think you better stop running!"

The woman was here. It was time for Amber to die. Amber quickly placed the small purple backpack she was holder on her daughter's shoulders.

"Run Alex, run and find T-"

A gun shot rang out, followed by psychotic laughter. Alex whimpered and hid behind a bin, ignoring her mother's final wish. Besides, how was she supposed to find him? She stayed there until the woman walked away, footsteps echoing around the alleyway. Alex was about to come out from her hiding place when she heard more footsteps. She quickly backed away until she was hiding in the darkness.

"Single gunshot wound, no weapon lying around. This is definitely a murder scene," a voice observed.

"Did you hear something?" another voice asked.

"No… hey, where are you going Johnson?"

Alexandria looked up to see a young man looking down at her.

"Hi there, what's your name?" he asked.

This question quickly prompted Alex to burst into tears.

"Johnson, what are you… oh. Hey there sweetie," A woman had now appeared next to the man. "Can you tell us your name?"

"Al-Alexandria"

"What about a last name?"

"Don't have one"

The woman and man exchanged glances.

"Was your mum with you Alexandria?" Johnson asked.

"Uh-huh, but now she's… and I want…," another wave of tears appeared.

"What do you want?"

"My big brother!"

"What's his name?"

"T-Tony Di-DiNozzo"

**NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS**

"I am not saying anything."

"C'mon Probie! I just want some teeny weenie details!"

"No Tony, because you already know who it was."

"Just a clue?"

"No"

"Please?"

"No"

"Please?"

"No!"

"For the love of Buddha, what are you two arguing about?"

Ziva glared at Tony and McGee as they sat down at their desks. She had heard them arguing all the way from the elevator.

"It's 'for the love of God' Ziva and McSecrets here got dropped off this morning by a woman!"

"Oh. And how is Sarah?" Ziva asked McGee.

"She fine. My car's in the shop so I asked her if she could drop me off, which she did."

The look on Tony's face was quite amusing. His face quickly changed from shocked to annoyed. "And you got me all worked up for nothing. Now what am I supposed to do?"

"Some work maybe, DiNozzo?" Gibbs sat at his desk, coffee in hand, eyeing his Senior Field Agent carefully.

"On it Boss"

The four agents logged onto their computers, ready to start the day. It was quiet until a phone rang. McGee, Ziva and Gibbs glanced over to Tony's desk, where said owner of the desk was looking at the ringing phone.

"Special Agent DiNozzo."

As the other three went back to work they could hear the murmur from the person at the other end.

"What can I do for Metro PD today?"

"Um… I don't know an Alexandria."

"No, Alexandra Eve with no last name does not ring a bell."

"Well there must be a mistake."

McGee glanced across at his partner, whose voice was rising slowly.

"Look, I'll be down there soon. I still think this was a mistake."

"Because last time I checked I did not have an eight year old sister!"

**Let me know what you think guys! Reviews make me extremely happy. First proper chapter should be up soon, no later than a week. Fun Fact: When you type McSecrets the red line appears and spell check believes you are trying to spell the word Massacre. TeeHee! Bye Hipcats!  
****Frani xx**


	2. Alexandria

**A/N: A day late, not too bad. Well, school has finished now and it's summer! Which means uploads should hopefully be more frequent. Thanks to AlexDN who corrected me on the right translation for the title, that's why it's changed. Anyway, ENJOY! (NCIS is not mine, I do however own Alexandria, who is a little cutie :P)**

**Alexandria**

Tony's statement caused his teammates to stop what they were doing and look over at him. They watched as he hung up his phone and ran a hand through his hair. Tony gathered his car keys, wallet and gun.

"Is everything okay?" Ziva asked.

"Depends on your definition of okay," Tony replied. "Right now there is an eight year old girl down at Metro PD claiming that I'm her big brother. According to the detective, she's hysterical. So things aren't really okay. Boss… I need to…"

"Go DiNozzo," Gibbs said. "Call if you need anything,"

Tony smiled gratefully at his boss and left the squad room. He got into his car and drove as quickly as he could to Metro PD. He gave his most charming smile to the receptionist.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"My name's Special Agent Anthony DiNozzo. I'm here to see Detective Swan about Alexandria Eve."

"Okay, I'll just go and get the Detective."

After a few minutes the receptionist returned with a female detective. Her dark hair was pulled up into a tight bun and her face was kind yet serious.

"Agent DiNozzo," she asked Tony.

"That's me," he replied.

"I'm Detective Natalie Swan. Alexandria is this way. I understand you did not realise you had a sister."

"I'm turning forty later this year Detective; it's hard to believe I have a sister who's thirty-two years younger than me."

"Half-sister actually. Her birth certificate states that you both have the same father."

Tony sighed. What the hell had his father been doing?

"There is also the matter of the will of Alexandria's mother," Detective Swan said.

"Will?" Tony asked.

"Alexandria was found near her mother's dead body. There were two gunshot wounds; we think the got caught in the middle of a drug deal."

"Oh god."

"Yes, not the best way to go. Now on the matter of the will, your father had given up custody rights of Alexandra, so her mother, Amber, has written that she would like you to be Alexandria's new guardian. If we just go through here, you'll be able to talk with Alexandria."

Tony followed the Detective into a small room which contained a conference table and a couch. A small girl was sitting on her couch, head down so her dark brown hair obstructed her face. When she looked up there was no doubt Alexandria was his sister. Apart from her petite frame (no DiNozzo was ever petite) she looked a lot like Tony. They both had the exact same hair and eye colour and when she saw Tony, the same bright smile.

"Hi Tony," she said.

"Hi Alexandria. How do you know my name?" Tony asked as he sat next to the little girl.

"You can call me Alex if you want. Mummy showed me a picture of you so I'd know what you looked like. She said she got it from Daddy."

"Okay. Did you ever live with Dad?"

"Mummy says we did when I was little. I don't really remember. We stayed in New York til three days before my fifth birthday. Then we went to some other places. We've been in D.C for eighteen days; I counted."

Tony continued to talk to Alex for about fifteen minutes. He didn't even notice when Detective Swan walked in with a man and a woman, both dressed in suits.

"Agent DiNozzo, this is Michael Stevens from Branshares NY, the lawyer firm and this is Emily Donald from social services," the Detective introduced. "They're here about the will and Alexandria's future."

Tony nodded and watched as the lawyer read the will silently and Emily talked to Alex. Once Michael finished reading, he looked up at Tony.

"There is not much here. It simply states that all of her bank accounts are to become a trust fund for Alexandria and that her legal guardian is to be Anthony DiNozzo Jnr," Andrew said.

"What about my- _our _father?" Tony asked.

"Mr DiNozzo Snr cannot gain custody of Alexandria as he gave up all parental rights. The only way he could gain custody if you were going to hand over your guardianship to him."

As Tony and Michael discussed the situation with Emily, Alex watched carefully. She wondered if her big brother was going to welcome her into his life or if she was going to have to move again.

"Legally, of course, you would be her parent. But in every other way you would simply be her brother," Emily's voice broke through Alex's thoughts.

"Okay then. Well, hand me those papers and let me sign them," Tony said.

"Are you sure Agent DiNozzo? This is a very big decision to make," Emily said.

"I know what it's like to go through your childhood alone. I'm not letting Alex go through the same things I did. My little sister is coming home with me."

**NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS**

"Is this where you work?" Alex asked as Tony pulled into the staff carpark of NCIS.

Tony looked at his sister through the rear-vision mirror of his car. "NCIS is just over there."

"Cool. Are we going inside?"

"Yep"

"Wow!"

Tony grinned at Alex's enthusiasm as he let her out of the car. He led her to the entrance where he showed his ID and organised a visitor's badge for Alex.

"I didn't know you had a daughter Tony," Brian, the security guard said.

"Not my daughter Brian. This is my little sister," Tony grinned at Brian's confused expression. He then realised that this would probably be most people's reaction, which he guessed wasn't that great. He suddenly realised what he had just done in the past hour but when Alex grabbed his hand as they got into the elevator she knew everything was going to be alright.

**NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS**

Gibbs was slightly concerned that Tony had been gone for almost an hour. Not worried, merely a little concerned. Surely it did not take over an hour to sort things out down at Metro? The thoughts quickly left his mind when the SFA exited the elevator holding a little girl's hand.

"Well Alex, this is where I work," Tony's voice cause McGee and Ziva to look up and there mouths to drop open slightly. Tony rolled his eyes at his partners' behavior. "Alex, these are the people I work with. Ziva David, Tim McGee and Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Guys, this is my little sister, Alexandria Eve DiNozzo."

"Hi" Alexandria said.

"Hi"

"Nice to meet you"

"Hey Kid"

"What now?" Alex asked Tony.

"Well, there's some other people who I know would like to meet you, so we'll go visit them just after I quickly do something."

"Okay. Tony?"

"Hmmm...?"

"I'm Hungry"

"Oh," Tony said. "Did you have breakfast?"

"Yeah. Natalie gave me some but I'm still hungry."

"Well then we can go and get something on the way to see the others."

"Do you like nutter butters Alex?" McGee asked from his desk.

"Yep" Alex replied

McGee held out an unopened packet of nutter butters towards Alex. "Here."

"McGee the McHero!" Tony exclaimed.

Alex frowned as she took the nutter butters. "McHero?"

"Your brother likes to make nicknames from my last name," McGee explained.

"I think I'm just going to call you Tim," Alex concluded, causing Tim himself to chuckle. She wondered back over to Tony's desk and watched her brother type something on the computer. She didn't understand some of the words he wrote, but she gathered that it was very serious.

"Are you ready over my shoulder?" Tony asked.

"Maybe"

"You're a very curious girl, aren't you Alex?"

"What does curious mean?"

"I'll explain later."

"Oh, okay"

Tony hit one last key on the keyboard and got up to take Alex to see Abby. Music was blaring in the lab and Abby was engrossed in whatever she was reading on her computer.

"Abby... Abby!" Tony yelled over the music. Alex put her hands over her ears.

"Oh, hi Tony," Abby reached for the remote and turned the music off. "And hi little girl who looks a lot like Tony. Have you got something to tell me?" she asked Tony.

"Alex, this is our scientist Abby. Abby, this is my little sister Alexandria."

"Little sister!"

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. I'll explain later."

"Okay then. Nice to meet you Alex."

"Hi," Alex said. She looked at the room around her before grinning. "This place is so cool."

Abby smiled. "Thank-you Alex. Why don't you stay around for a bit and I can show you around?"

"We were actually going to see Ducky and Palmer," Tony said.

"I can take her later," Abby volunteered. "They've got a visitor at the moment."

"Oh," Tony said knowingly. "Is that alright Alex?"

"Yep. See you later Tony."

"See ya kiddo... oomph!" Tony was startled slightly when Alex jumped to hug him, but managed hoist the little girl up rather than drop her. "I'll see you later."

"Abby's not going to take me back to the police is she?"

"Alex, no one is taking you away. You're home is with me now."

**Awww! I make myself sick with this sweetness. Please let me know what you think, reviews make me feel all gooey. FUN FACT: I really want to experience a cold Christmas. Because the coldest Christmas I have ever had was 25 degrees Celsius! (That's about 77 Fahrenheit). Bye Hipcats!  
****Frani xx**


	3. Target

**A/N: Hey guys! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews, keep them coming! This is where the plot of the story comes to life! ENJOY! (NCIS is not mine... at least not in this universe)**

**Target**

"Where is Alex?" Ziva asked Tony as he entered the bullpen.

"Down in the lab with Abby," Tony replied. The forensic scientist and his sister clicked immediately. Tony sat back at his desk and got back to work. He looked at his emails and sighed at what he saw.

_RE: Alexandria  
We regret to inform you that Mr Anthony DiNozzo Snr is out of the office, he will not receive you email until later this week. If the message is urgent please call 555-1198 or make an appointment with his advisor, Mr Kevin McIlvain._

Tony made a mental note to call his father later. He was mid way reading an email from a friend in Ohio when Gibbs' phone rang. The Senior Field Agent's head snapped up, along with McGee's and Ziva's. That phone ringing usually meant one thing.

"Gibbs… on it," the phone went into Gibbs' pocket. "Grab your gear, dead Lieutenant Commander at Norfolk."

The three other agents sprung into action, collecting guns, badges and packs. "Do we know what happened boss?" McGee asked.

"A bunch of Petty Officers found him on their morning run. They believe the Lieutenant Commander fell after climbing a tree," Gibbs said and smirked when McGee wrinkled his nose. "My thoughts exactly"

It took them some time to get to Norfolk but eventually the truck, M.E van and sedan were all there. The Lieutenant Commander was lying at the bottom of a tree, bruises evident on his body. The team immediately began photographing, sketching and bagging and tagging. Ducky knelt down next to the body, Palmer right next to him.

"Name, McGee?" Gibbs asked.

McGee looked up from the fingerprint scanner. "This is Lieutenant Commander Aaron Thompson, age 36."

"Thoughts, Duck?"

"Well it certainly looks as though our Lieutenant Commander has fallen. These bruises are consistent with ones you would find on someone who had fallen from a tree. There are some bruises on the back on the skull. Once he is back at autopsy I should be able to deduce whether or not the cause of death was indeed blunt force trauma. It does remind me of this time when my dear friend Colin…"

"Duck, time of death?" Gibbs prompted.

"Temperature of the liver suggests death was at about 0700 hours," Ducky said.

"McGee, DiNozzo, go and get security tapes for this whole area," Gibbs ordered. As Tony and Tim left Gibbs walked over the Petty Officers.

"Names," he began.

"Petty Officer Joseph Clark"

"Petty Officer Kevin Taylor"

"Petty Officer Ben Sinclair"

"What class?" Gibbs asked.

"Second class, sir," Taylor replied.

"What time did you find Lieutenant Commander Thompson?" Gibbs asked.

"At about 0730, sir," Clark answered.

"What were you guys doing?"

"Running, sir. We often see Thompson on our morning run. He starts at 0700 and we start at 0715," Taylor replied.

"Did you touch the body?"

"No sir. I ran straight back to alert someone so they could contact NCIS," Sinclair said.

"Thank-you Petty Officers. We may be in touch," Gibbs said.

**NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS**

McGee and DiNozzo reached the security office five minuted after they left the crime scene.

"McGee, you have a sister," Tony said.

"I'm glad you realise that Tony," Tim looked at his partner sceptically.

"What was your sister doing when she was eight?"

"I didn't see her much when she was eight, I was already at MIT but you know; girl things. Playing with dolls, drawing, annoying her big brother when he was around, and going to school…"

"School!"

"Yeah, Tony, school"

The agents paused their conversation as they collected the required security taped and filled in the paperwork. As they left the building they resumed their conversation.

"I'm going to have to enrol her in school, aren't I?" Tony asked.

"Yeah, you are. Just find a good elementary school in the area and you're done."

"But what grade is she in?"

"How old is she?"

"Um… eight"

Tim chuckled. "Third grade will be fine"

"Well then, looks like I'm going to be busy."

"If you need any help Tony, just ask. I think my dad still has some of Sarah's stuff from when she was younger."

"Thanks Tim. Now let's get back before Gibbs has our heads."

The two agents walked back to the scene quickly where they saw Ziva, Gibbs and Ducky standing around Palmer, who was holding something.

"What's going on?" Tony asked. Palmer handed him a piece of paper, covered in a small amount of blood. Wordlessly he opened it and as he read it he turned slightly pale.

_Hello Agent DiNozzo  
See how easy it was for me to kill this man? I don't even know who he is. Now imagine how easy it will be for me to kill your sister._

Tony looked up at the five people looking at him and grinned slightly, "well at least we've got a suspect."

Gibbs inwardly sighed, knowing that jokes were Tony's coping mechanism when he was nervous, or even scared. Each of his agents had their own one. Tim would be quiet and when spoken to, he would revert back to his stuttering ways. Ziva would have a bit of an emotional shutdown. Shaking his head, he went back into agent-mode.

"DiNozzo, McGee, David, take the truck and head back. I don't want anyone leaving the building until I get back. Especially you and Alex, DiNozzo," Gibbs said, and watched as his three agents left.

"Well that was certainly not in the general forecast," Ducky said, helping Palmer load the body onto the gurney. Gibbs remained silent as he watched. "I know you're worried Jethro, but we do not know what this killer want yet."

"It's pretty clear Duck, he or she wants to kill Alex," Gibbs told the medical examiner.

"Apart from that," Ducky corrected. "We do not know motive or the name of the perpetrator."

"DiNozzo's finally found someone to call his own family. I can't let that be taken away from him."

"No one is going to let that happen Jethro. You must stop with this pointless worrying and focus on finding the killer."

Gibbs smiled gratefully at his friend and watched as they drove off in the M.E's van.

**NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS**

Tony, Ziva and Tim entered the bullpen and were quite amused at the sight they saw. Abby was sitting at Ziva's desk, reading.

"Careful Captain Bert! We might crash!"

Tony chuckled at the sight of his sister sitting in his chair, which had been wheeled into the centre of their office space. A spare NCIS ball cap was sitting on her head, almost covering her eyes. Bert the Hippo was clutched in her hands.

"We're going to crash! Noooo!"

Alex let herself fall off the chair and onto the floor with a thud. The stuffed hippo landed on her stomach. Tony walked up to her so the tips of his shoes were almost touching her head.

"Having fun there, Alex?" Tony asked.

Alex grinned. "Hey Tony, Bert's not good at flying."

"That's useful to know."

"Maybe if you get back on the chair he can try again," Ziva suggested, a playful glint in her eye. Once the eight year old had climbed back on Ziva started pushing her around. Alex giggled, causing the adults around her to laugh. The "plane ride" went on for about five minutes until Ziva decided that anymore would probably make Alex sick.

"Can't we keep going Ziva?"

"Maybe later Alex, I have work to do. And I think your brother would like his chair back."

Alex looked over at Tony, who was sitting on the edge of his desk, watching his little sister. Alex rolled the chair towards him and he took it gratefully. The team worked in silence, Abby having moved to Gibbs' desk, until their boss arrived.

"Abby, take Alex back to the lab, there's stuff for you to do down there," Gibbs said. Once they left he continued. "DiNozzo," he began.

"Boss, for once I don't think this is about me," Tony said, knowing where Gibbs was going.

"Something you need to tell me?"

"They didn't find Alex alone. They found her near the dead body of her Mum, one of my many step-mothers. Metro swore they got caught in the middle of a drug deal because the bullet had traces of cocaine on it. I don't think they even bothered to ask Alex. Amber Cooper was killed first and now they want her daughter," Tony explained.

"Then we need to talk to Alex," Gibbs said.

"Boss…"

"Talk DiNozzo, not interrogate. You can go and talk to her. McGee, Ziva, I wanna know how the killer got on base and he or she knows that Alex is with DiNozzo. I'm going to see Ducky."

Tony and Gibbs left, heading in different directions. A few minutes later Tony led Alex into a conference room to talk. The eight year old kept glancing at him, as if he was suddenly going to do something crazy.

"Why are we here?" Alex asked once she climbed into a chair.

"To talk. Well, I have some questions I need you to answer, okay?"

"Okay"

"Why did your mum bring you here?"

"She said it wasn't safe and that you were here."

"Why wasn't it safe?"

"Mummy said that someone was looking for her. And yesterday I turned eight and Mummy said we wouldn't see each other anymore," Alex's voice hitched. "Tony, did I kill Mummy?" tears began to fall down her cheeks. Tony got up and walked over to her chair.

"Oh god no, of course you didn't. Alex, did you see who shot your mum?"

Alex shook her head. "It was a girl younger than Mummy, I could tell by her voice. But I think she was older than you. She wore shoes that make clicking noises. I never saw her though."

Tony grabbed his sister's hands. "Thanks Alex, you really helped. Why don't we go and grab some lunch?"

"Okay. Tony, what's going on? Are we going to get hurt?"

"You know when adults tell you everything's going to be fine but you know they're lying because they want to make you feel better and they can't tell you what's going on?"

"Yeah"

"Everything's going to be fine Alex, everything's going to be fine."

**I couldn't resist having a little McNozzo friendship moment, because as my friends know, I ship McNozzo (romance, brothers, friendship, anything!) pretty hard even though it's totally not going to become canon. Meh, I don't care. FUN FACT: There is a couple of lines from Doctor Who in this chapter, a virtual cookie to whoever finds them! Adeus Hipcats!  
Frani xx **


	4. Home

**A/N: Sorry for the wait guys. But this is a really long chapter so I hope you guys like it. Thanks for all the reviews, they're like Christmas presents! ENJOY! (NCIS is not mine. Maybe that's why the world's going to end?)**

**Home**

"Hey Duck, whatcha got?"

Gibbs entered autopsy, where Ducky and Palmer had almost finished that autopsy of Lieutenant Commander Thompson.

"Just in time Jethro. We have concluded that cause of death was blunt force trauma. He was beaten with a branch; we found splinters embedded into the skin," Ducky explained.

"Made to look like he'd fallen," Gibbs finished.

"Precisely, though why our killer thought that falling from a tree would cause death is beyond me. We also found clothing fibres underneath his nails. He tried to fight back. They are up with Abigail now, along with the victim's clothing."

"Thanks Duck"

Gibbs got into the elevator and headed back up to the squad room where McGee and Ziva were standing in front of the plasma, talking quietly.

"What have you got?" Gibbs asked.

"It's more like what we don't have. We reviewed the security taped from this morning. Problem is there was nothing to look at; they've been erased. Someone accessed them before us," McGee explained.

"We've put in a request at Norfolk to gain the logs at the security office but they said that may take until tomorrow morning," Ziva added.

"Boss!"

The three agents looked up to see Tony running towards them, Alex not far behind.

"We're looking for a woman about forty-five years old," Tony said as he reached them.

"She killed my mummy," Alex informed them. The girl's eyes were red and he cheeks were stained with tears. However, she smiled at them, a genuine smile. Even though it was kind of weird, considering the circumstances.

"Yeah, they know that bit Alex."

"Oh"

There was a small pause before Gibbs' phone rang.

"Gibbs… we'll be right there Abbs."

Gibbs hung up the phone and beckoned Tony. "You're with me DiNozzo. You three stay up here."

Abby was waiting not-so-patiently for Gibbs down in the lab. She sucked her Caf-Pow! and when Gibbs and Tony arrived she almost jumped for joy. "Gibbs! I think I identified the killer!"

"Let's here it Abbs."

"Okay, so I managed to pull some fingerprints off the victims clothing and I ran them through every database I could get access to. This came up,"

Abby hit a button on her keyboard. The picture of a blonde haired, green eyed woman appeared. The details said she was forty seven and born in New York. Tony's eyes shone with recognition as he looked at the picture. He then frowned and looked at Abby.

"Name?" he prompted.

"Sandra Gray," Abby said.

"I though so"

"You know her, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked.

"It's a very long story Boss," Tony replied. "And I'm only just beginning to put it all together myself."

Gibbs nodded and turned to Abby. "Send this to McGee and get him to put out a BOLO. Then go home, we can continue this tomorrow." Abby nodded and turned to her computer, looking at the clock on her computer. She had not realised that it was past seven o'clock. Tony and Gibbs left and went back to the squad room.

"Gibbs, we have found something," Ziva said as they arrived.

"This morning Metro PD had a few replacement staff running reception and their evidence centre because a few employees came down with the flu. One of the replacements has made numerous phone calls to the women Abby sent the picture of for the BOLO," McGee said. "It must be how they found out who Alex was with."

"So she has an accomplice. Where is this guy now?" Gibbs asked.

"He went for his lunch break and never came back."

"Hey Tony! Look what I did!"

All four agents turned to where Alex was sitting at Tony's desk. Tony walked over and took the phone she was holding out to him (he was pretty sure it was McGee's phone). Using one of those drawing apps she had drawn a picture of a boy and girl next to a house.

"It's me and you."

"I see… where are we exactly?"

"At home"

"Ah, well I hate to tell you this but my apartment does not look like that," Tony said.

"What does it look like then?" Alex asked.

"You're going to find out soon. Tony's taking you home now," Gibbs said.

Alex grinned and clapped her hands. She had had a lot of fun at NCIS but now she was tired and she wanted to go home. Home. Alex couldn't remember when her mum last told her they were going home. The longest they had stayed in one place was three hundred and four days; Mummy had helped her count.

"Boss…," Tony began as Alex dived under his desk to retrieve her backpack.

"Yes DiNozzo, I'll be around later. You need to explain Sandra Gray."

"I know Boss. C'mon Alex, let's go home."

Instinctively, Tony held out his hand for Alex to take. The eight year old grabbed his hand and then swung their arms as they walked to the elevator. Gibbs turned to his remaining to agents. "I want you guys at Tony's place tonight. We don't know when Gray is going to strike."

"You're coming too Boss?"

"Yeah, but you're the ones on protection detail."

**NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS **

"So this is going to be your room."

Tony opened the dorr to his guest bedroom which, obviously, was not exactly the room for an eight year old girl. It had a double bed with plain white covers, a wooden dresser and wardrobe and the walls were painted a pale blue.

"Blue's my favourite colour," Alex said.

"Well that's a good start. But we still have a project for the weekend."

"What kind of prject?"

"A makeover… kind of. We can paint things on the walls, get you a new doona cover, some pillows, a few toys and some new clothes. Sound fun?"

"Yep!"

"Now, do you have pyjamas or something to change into?"

"Yes, in my bag."

"Cool, you get changed in here. I'll be in the kitchen, okay?"

"Okay"

He left his sister alone and headed back to the kitchen, shedding his jacket, tie and shoes along the way. He pulled out a pizza menu from a drawer. Pizza seemed like a good option, considering the current situation. He was about to call when he heard the door bell ring. Grabbing his gun, he walked to the door and opened it.

"That's our job tonight Tony."

Standing in the doorway was Ziva, McGee and Abby. Ziva and McGee were holding bags from the nearest supermarket. From what he could see, the contained lemonade, beer and breakfast ingredients. Abby was holding a couple of bags with a few different logos on the front. Ziva pushed the gun away from her face and invited herself in.

"Did Gibbs put you up to this?" Tony asked.

"Here was Gibbs, bringing all this stuff was Abby," McGee explained.

"Alex is in protective custody?"

"You know it"

"Well come in"

"I bought some stuff for Alex," Abby said. "I figured that backpack couldn't have much in it."

"Abbs, you didn't have to…"

"I know, but I wanted to."

Abby grinned as they went inside. Tony shook his head at how his teammates just made themselves at welcome in his apartment. He wasn't complaining though, he did it plenty of times; McGee had to replace his lock twice thanks to Tony's lock picking.

"Tim! Ziva! Abby!" Alex emerged from the hallway in purple pyjamas covered in blue flowers. "What are you guys doing here?" she asked.

"They're… here to have dinner with us," Tony answered, producing the pizza menu he still seemed to have in his hand. "Why don't you help pick out what ones to have while I make a phone call?"

"What pizza do you want?"

"I don't mind. Something with meat will be nice."

"Okay"

Alex wandered over to Ziva, Tim and Abby while Tony walked into the hallway, pulling out his phone. He searched through his contacts until he found the number he was looking for. His foot tapped against the floorboards until the person on the other end picked up.

"Junior! It's been awhile."

"I know we don't talk much but you've been holding out on me dad."

"What… what do you mean?"

"How did mum die?"

"She was sick-"

"Dad! You could feed me that crap when I was twelve but not now."

"She… she was poisoned. They said it was an accident, no reason to call it murder."

"Huh… when were you going to tell me about Alex?"

"Junior, who's Alex?"

"Alexandria? My sister, _your_ daughter!"

"Amber and I are no longer together…"

"Well yeah, I figured since she was murdered here in D.C this morning!"

"What!? Then where's Alexandria?"

"Living with me. I now have custody of my sister who didn't know existed twelve hours ago! And do you know who's behind all of this? Sandra."

"I thought she got put in one of those psychiatric centres?"

"Well evidently she got out. Look, Amber's body's gone to her brother and sister in Philadelphia. I gave them your details and mine. I expect you to be at the funeral."

And with that, he hung up. Tony considered punching the wall to release the stress building up. In the space of twelve hours he had basically become a dad. He wasn't really sure if this was a god idea anymore. This meant no more late nights at the bar, no more bringing gorgeous women home. His thoughts paused as he heard Alex's laugh echo through the house. Maybe this was the change he needed. Ziva and Tim were always saying that he needed to settle down. Maybe… maybe this would be the best thing that ever happened to him, apart from joining NCIS.

"DiNozzo, are you going to stand in that hallway all night?"

Tony jumped at the sound of his boss' voice. He hadn't even heard him arrived. "Coming boss!"

Everyone was in the lounge room, sitting on his two sofas. Gibbs, Tim and Ziva were occupying one couch and Abby and Alex were on the other, a bunch of bags between them. From what he could see, they contained clothes, a couple of books, a toy bear and a flower shaped pillow. Dinner soon arrived and the team made light conversation. Alex talked about going to school in Hawaii for six months and meeting a girl called Grace whose dad hated pineapple. McGee told everyone about a guy who freaked out the whole computer science class at MIT because he sat with his back facing the teacher yet still participated in class. Tony contributed with a story from his days at boarding school. At eight thirty Tony could see Alex's eyelids drooping.

"I think you should go to bed Alex," he said.

"But I'm not tired Tony!" Alex protested.

"I don't think so. Come on, we can talk about an actual bedtime tomorrow."

Alex reluctantly followed Tony down the hallway to her new room. He didn't even have to tuck her in; as soon as she got in she pulled the covers over her and fell asleep.

"Night Alex," Tony whispered as he turned the light off and shut the door. He walked back to the lounge where the others were talking quietly. Abby was standing, her handbag dangling off her shoulder.

"I'm going to head home," she said. She kissed each of them on the cheek and then let herself out.

"I suppose I need to talk about Sandra now," Tony said. Gibbs nodded.

"I was five when I met Sandra, she was twelve. My dad hired her mum to help around the house so my mum didn't have to do all the housework. I spent time with her on weekends or when we didn't have school. Sandra lost her dad when she was eight and I think she always saw my dad as her new father-figure. I was seven when I noticed there wasn't something right about Sandra; she always insisted that my dad was her dad now too. When mum died we all saw it. Senior had moved Mrs Gray and Sandra into our place because we needed more help and Sandra took that as a 'welcome to the family'. It went from 'Mr DiNozzo' to 'Dad'. That's when Mrs Gray realised her daughter needed help and sent her to a psychiatric hospital. It's also when dad decided I was going to boarding school. The last thing Mrs Gray ever said to me was "sorry" and now I know why."

"Why?" Ziva asked.

"My mum died because she was poisoned. Sandra has asked me where the kitchen was that day. My dad fired the cook shortly after mum died. Sandra wants my dad all to herself. I don't believe in coincidences, thanks to the job," Tony took a breath and looked up. "My mum died when I was eight, Alex's mum died when she was eight, Sandra's dad died when she was eight. In Sandra's warped mind she thinks all the siblings have to be equal, and since she thinks she's part of the family she's fixed that problem. But it hasn't worked. So she's going to get rid of what's she thinks has replaced her. That's why she wants to kill Alex."

**Getting into the mind of Sandra Gray was most disturbing. Anyway, please give me some feedback as I'm a bit iffy about this. FUN FACT: I have found a new obsession in Hawaii Five-0. To celebrate there is a hidden Hawaii Five-0 reference. Find it and let me know. You may also get a virtual lollipop. Later Hipcats!  
****Frani xx**


	5. Nightmares

**A/N: A thousand apologies from me to you. I know it's been forever but Christmas happened, then the internet went down, then I went to the beach, then my computer had a spaz. Thank god I'm getting a laptop in 3 weeks. Please review, it lets me know people are actually reading this. ENJOY! (NCIS is not mine…. Sad face) **

**Nightmares**

Tony awoke in the middle of the night to crying and screaming. He shot out of bed and pulled on a t-shirt and sweat pants before racing to Alex's room, just as Ziva came down the door way with her gun.

"Sounds like nightmares," Ziva commented.

"And what are you planning to do, shoot the nightmares?" Tony asked.

"I will let McGee know there is no threat."

"McGee woke up too?"

"She is having very vocal nightmares"

Tony sighed and entered Alex's room. His sister still seemed to be asleep; however she was tossing, turning and crying. He walked over and placed a hand on her shoulder and gently shook it in an attempt to wake her. Alex's eyes shot open and she stopped moving.

"Mummy?" she whispered.

"No Alex, it's Tony. Remember?" Tony sat himself on Alex's bed. Alex paused for a minute, regaining her memory before launching herself into Tony's arms. She immediately started crying again; soft sobs echoing around the room. Tony wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly to his chest, shushing her.

"Did you have a nightmare?" he asked quietly/

She nodded. "Mummy was dead and then… then _you _died."

"Well I can assure you I'm not dead. Why don't you try to go to sleep?"

"Don't go"

"I'm not leaving"

Tony actually planned to head back to his room when Alex fell asleep but somehow he fell asleep in her bed with his little sister curled into his side. That was how he woke up the next morning except Alex had rolled away a little bit. The smell of eggs was drifting through the apartment.

"Alex… Alex… time to get up," Tony said, trying to coax his sister awake.

"Later"

"I think not little sis. Gibbs is not going to like it if we're late."

"But I don't work for NCIS"

"I do. C'mon, get up and get dressed."

Tony left the room and headed back to his own bedroom. After putting on a clean shirt, suit and socks he put on and headed to the bathroom where he fixed his hair. In the kitchen Ziva and Tim were sitting at the bench eating eggs on toast.

"There are more eggs in the pan," Ziva said.

"Thanks," Tony grabbed a plate from the cupboard and helped himself. "So what do you think our course of action is going to be?" he asked.

"There haven't been any hits on the BOLO," McGee commented.

"How do you know that McPsychic?"

"I created an app"

"Of course you did."

"If we do not get a hit on the BOLO soon then I fear we may have to lure Sandra out," Ziva said.

"We're not going to use my sister as bait."

"Are we going fishing Tony?"

The three agents turned to see Alex standing behind them dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt, holding a hairbrush and hair tie in her hand.

"Why?" Tony asked,

"You said bait" Alex replied.

"I wasn't talking about fishing"

"Oh. Can you tie my hair up?"

"I think you should ask Ziva to do that"

Alex's eyes lit up. "Can you do the braid you do on your hair? Please?"

Ziva smiled. "I can do that. In the future, however I will teach you to do it yourself."

"Cool!"

"And after that you should have some breakfast Alex," Tony said.

"But Tony, I like eggs."

Tony sighed; it was going to be a long day.

**NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS**

"Hey Abby! My hair's like Ziva's!"

Tony silently chuckled at his sister's new obsession. She told Gibbs when they arrived in the squad room and even Palmer, who they met in the elevator. He smiled when Abby told her how 'awesome' her hair was.

"And maybe tomorrow you can teach me how to do pigtails!"

"Sure. Now say goodbye to your brother, I'm pretty sure he has some work to do."

Alex smiled and ran to Tony to give him a hug. He lowered himself to his knees so she could wrap her arms around his neck. It may have only been a day but Tony was really getting used to the hello and goodbye hugs. It was nice to feel so wanted.

"Be good for Abby okay?"

"I will"

"I'll be back around lunchtime; maybe we can go and get something together."

"See you then"

Tony ruffled Alex's hair and headed back to the elevator. In the bullpen Gibbs, McGee and Ziva were standing the plasma. The picture of Sandra's accomplice was on the screen along with scans of various documents.

"What's going on?" Tony asked.

"Metro's run away temp gave the name Roger Beckett. After digging we found his real name, Daniel Jacobs," McGee said.

"We have edited the BOLO and also added the car he is supposed to own," Ziva continued.

"Just waiting now," Gibbs added.

"You won't have to wait Agent Gibbs."

All four agents turned to see two security guards each holding an arm of the man they were looking for. Daniel Jacobs did not fight the handcuffs on his wrists, or the forceful hands that took him to interrogation room two. He waited patiently until Gibbs opened the door and walked in holding a bottle of water and a file. Daniel didn't even flinch when Gibbs slammed the door and dropped the file on the table.

"Why are you here?" Gibbs asked.

"I know I've done something wrong," Daniel replied.

"Funny, so do we. What have you and Sandra Gray been doing?"

"She came to me wanting to know about her friend's little sister. She got me a place at Metro PD so I could keep tabs on her and let Sandra know who she left with. I called her the moment I saw Agent DiNozzo leave with the little girl. But the way Sandra was acting made me think it was more than looking out for someone so I came to you guys."

"Well yeah, she killed two people."

"She what?!"

Gibbs pulled out two pictures from the file. "Amber Cooper, _the little girl's _mother. Shot dead by Sandra Gray. Lieutenant Commander Aaron Thompson, beaten to death by Sandra Gray."

"Oh my God, I'm an accessory to murder, aren't I?!"

On the other side of the one way glass Tony, Tim and Ziva were chuckling quietly at what they were seeing. "Well he's certainly well informed," Ziva said.

"I have a feeling we're going to be laughing about this for a while," Tony said.

**NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS **

"So what do we do now?"

Daniel Jacobs did not actually have any more useful information and the phone Sandra used to contact him was a burn phone no longer in use. So basically they were back to the start. A picture of Sandra Gray started at them through the plasma. Tony felt uncomfortable with it there; how did his childhood friend go from an innocent girl to a psychotic killer?

"We need to predict her next move," Gibbs said.

Tony sighed. "Boss, she's not very predictable and we don't really know much accept who her next victim is going to be."

"But we have the higher hand. We are protecting the person she wants," Ziva said.

"Upper hand Ziva, not higher hand," Tony corrected.

"Is it just me, or is Sandra extremely patient?" McGee asked.

"What do you mean McGee?" Gibbs asked.

"Well, she's obviously smart, in a slightly crazy way. She could have murdered her victims as soon as she wanted but she had the patience to wait. She did it with Tony's mum and with Alex's mum. She could have killed Alex months ago. But she's waiting."

"It is a tactic they once taught us in Mossad," Ziva said. "You follow your target until you are able to predict their next move and catch them off guard. If you saw your killer every morning on your run then you would not be bothered if they approached you. Of course, she may be waiting so everything is in place like Tony explained last night."

"Except Alex said her mum knew they were running from her," Tony said.

"She must have worked it out," McGee concluded.

"So what do we do? Form some sort of routine and lead her into a trap?" Tony asked.

"That's exactly what we do," Gibbs said.

"Boos, I already said this; I'm not letting Alex become bait."

"Nothing's going to happen to her DiNozzo. Besides, Alex isn't going to know she's taking part in it."

"Why?"

"Children don't become suspicious of going to the park."

**NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS**

"Seriously McGee, why did you bring the McMutt?"

Tony and McGee were sitting on a bench near the playground, keeping a careful eye on Alex. It was late afternoon; so there were a lot of kids who had finished school on the play equipment. Tim's dog was sitting at his feet.

"I told you Tony, Abby got Jethro to recognise Sandra's scent. Plus, he hasn't been out of the house in a while."

Tony opened his mouth to say something else but stopped when he saw Alex bolting towards them. "Alex, slow down or you'll fall" he called out.

Alex slowed down a bit and skidded to a halt in front of them. Grinning, she sat herself down next to Tony. "Hi"

"Hi" Tony said. "Having a good time?"

"Uh-huh. I haven't been to a park in _ages_"

"How long is _ages_?"

"Um… six days"

Tony grinned "I thought so"

"Tim, can I play with your dog?" Alex asked.

"Sure," Tim handed Alex a tennis ball. "Just go over there so we can see both of you."

"Okay"

The two men lapsed into silence for a few minutes before static could be heard from the ear pieces they were wearing. "Gibbs says it is time to leave. We have not spotted Sandra and I am guessing you have not either," Ziva said.

"We'll collect Alex and her furry friend and headed back," Tony told her. He sighed and got up to attempt to reign in his little sister. Forget long day, it was going to be a long week.

**Okay, so this is a rather short story so I'm thinking maybe two or three chapters left? I'm working on a longer story and the sequel to "An Unusual Gift" so I want to finish this soon. FUN FACT: My little sister is now taller than me… not so fun actually. Ciao Hipcats!  
Frani xx**


	6. Run

**A/N: Hey everyone! Well, if you read my profile you'd know that my computer wasn't working so I couldn't update. Well, I didn't get my laptop but someone came to fix the computer yesterday, so here I am! This story has a chapter and a epilogue to go. ENJOY! (NCIS is not mine... but I am finally seeing some more S10 episodes over here) **

**Run**

They repeated the process for a week. Every second day Tony took Alex, Jethro the dog and either Ziva or McGee to the park, trying to lure Sandra into their pseudo routine. Tony didn't want Alex to more anymore than a few feet away from him but Ziva and Gibbs had both assured him that Sandra wouldn't go for anything public; she would most likely try to lure Alex away.

That day it was Ziva's turn to accompany Alex with Gibbs and McGee running surveillance. Each agent was uncomfortable with using the eight year old as 'bait' but as Ducky, their voice of reason, had said; what other option was there? Sandra was smart, no one was going to spot her and respond to the BOLO.

"Tony! Tony!"

Tony and Ziva immediately became alert as Alex came running towards that with a slightly panicked look on her face.

"What's wrong?" Tony asked.

"I cut myself," Alex replied, a small pout forming on her face and is she was annoyed rather than upset.

Tony allowed himself a small smile. "That's okay Alex. Ziva, do you have a band-aid?"

"I think so," Ziva went through her pockets until she produced the plastic bandage.

After sticking the band aid to Alex's hand the eight year old ran back to play. It was not clear whether Alex was fully aware of what was going on, it seemed as though she didn't have a single worry in the world. Tony decided not to keep her in the dark but would only take about it if she asked a question. The only thing she had asked so far was "are you still looking for the people who killed mummy?" so Tony wasn't really sure what Alex did or did not know. Tony was pulled from his thoughts when he felt a weight on his lap and a tongue lick his face.

"Oh God, get off McMutt!"

Ziva couldn't stop laughing. Turning her head and seeing all one hundred pounds of Jethro trying to sit on Tony's lap was the strangest and funniest thing ever. Her partner managed to push the German Sheppard off and back onto the ground.

"It seems as though you have a new friend Tony"

"It's not funny Ziva"

"It is"

"I'm not sure who I'm more annoyed at right now."

"Out of who? McGee and I?"

"Yep… well, pretty much everyone in the world… except not Alex, but she still has a chance to make it onto the list."

"She is your little sister. She will be on and off the list quicker than any of us."

**NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS**

In a government issued sedan parked on the street closest to the playground McGee and Gibbs were running surveillance. Gibbs watched for Sandra Gray and McGee took pictures of anyone who looked suspicious and sent them to Abby for identification in case Sandra had enlisted a new accomplice.

"We don't have a good track record with mixing our families with NCIS," McGee said suddenly.

Normally, Gibbs wouldn't bother responding just let the younger agent talk. But not this time. "What makes you say that?"

"Well, my sister's been a murder suspect, Ziva had Ari being hunted down by us and now Tony's sister need protecting."

"Huh"

"McGee went back to taking photos and communicating with Abby on the laptop sitting on his lap. Truthfully, Gibbs had not even made the connection Tim had. In all three situation the members of his team had fiercely protected their siblings, an instinct he could not relate to yet he was still proud of his team.

"Boss?"

"Yeah McGee?"

"The man walking towards the entrance in the blue coat has a gun and either another gun or a knife strapped to his leg."

"Get Abby to run a photo through facial recognition."

"On it"

Gibbs looked out the window, keeping watch for Sandra. A couple of seconds past before he spotted a woman with two guns strapped to her waist. "McGee… another one."

"McGee?"

"Boss… Sandra Gray is here."

Gibbs looked out McGee's window to see Sandra Gray entering the park. They saw her greet the woman carrying two guns like they were friends just catching up. Both women then waved to the man McGee had spotted before.

"It's an ambush… David, DiNozzo, get Alex out of the park now!"

In the park, Tony leapt up off his seat along with Ziva. He immediately spotted his little sister playing with Jethro and called out to them. They returned straight away and Ziva put a leash on Jethro.

"I will take Jethro to find her. You get Alex out of here," she said, and took off in the opposite direction to them.

"We're going to go now Alex," Tony said, taking the girl's hand.

"Oh, okay"

They walked through the park, Tony looking over his shoulder occasionally. His heart was thudding in his chest, almost shaking his body with each beat. _Pull yourself together Anthony. Focus on getting both of you out of here alive, _the "other side" of his brain told him. He carefully glanced over his shoulder once more and for a moment his heart literally stopped. Five people, clearly armed were closing in on them.

"Alex, we've gotta run."

"Why?"

"We're… we're playing tag, okay?"

"Oh, okay!"

"Yeah, except if we get tagged, people are going to hurt us."

**NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS**

Jethro had caught onto Sandra's scent and was now dragging Ziva as the dog found itself getting closer to Sandra. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Gibbs and McGee heading towards her, stopping to advise people to leave the park. However just as they were about to reach her and Jethro the German Sheppard sped up, forcing Ziva to let go of the leash. She did her best to keep up with the dog but he had a head start. She could hear the thudding footsteps of here teammates behind her and the panting of Jethro in front of her. Soon, Sandra Gray appeared in their sights. The Sheppard barked and if possible sprinted even harder. As he got close he leapt and pounced on the woman. Realising there was a chance his dog was going to maul their killer, McGee called out to the canine. "Jethro, come here!" Tim shouted.

Mid-snarl, Jethro removed his paws from Sandra's chest and made his way back over to his master. The dog was rewarded with a scratch behind the ears.

"Sandra Gray, you are under arrest for the murders of Maria DiNozzo, Amber Cooper, Lieutenant Commander Aaron Thompson and organising the attempted murder of Alexandria Eve DiNozzo."

Gibbs' statement caused Sandra to let out a dark laugh. "Attempted murder? I still have people hunting her. When you see her next, you'll see her corpse."

No one miss heard the sudden sound of gunshots.

**NCIS NCIS NCIS NCIS**

Thud

Thud

Thud

Thud

They say you learn something new everyday. Tony had learnt a lot of new things in the past week but the one thing he was learning as he and Alex ran was that his little sister was incredibly fast. Her hand in his, they ran at full pace, sprinting as fast as they could. He snuck a glance over his shoulder; the five people chasing them were still there.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

If there was any doubt that they hadn't been armed, it disappeared the minute gunshots were fired at them. Tony managed to remove his own gun before clicking the safety off and firing it at those chasing after them.

"Tony!" Don't hurt them!" Alex said.

"Alex I don't know if you've noticed, but these people are trying to hurt us," Tony said bluntly.

"Mummy said it's not nice to hurt people even if they hurt you."

"I'm sorry Alex."

Tony twisted around again to fire his gun, even though his wasn't his best. He managed to hit one of the men, though he wasn't sure where. Tony holstered his gun and continued to push himself to run faster. They ran into a cluster of trees, dodging in and out of the rows of trunks. The agent tugged Alex's hand, a silent message to keep running.

Then he realised it.

He was no longer holding Alex's hand.

**Yeah, a cliffhanger, I know. Ugh, this story is going down the drain in my opinion. But review and let me know if you think differently. FUN FACT: I have a twitter account now! Please follow MissFraniJones and if you want, I will follow you back (just PM me letting me know you want to be followed) I will give updates on my writing, you can remind me that I haven't updated in forever and I may annoy you (not really) with random stuff about me and my opinions on my fav TV shows. Sayonara Hipcats!  
Frani xx**


	7. Hide

**A/N: Gah! This is the last chapter of this story, but do not fear, there is an epilogue! Thanks to everyone who made my week by reviewing and telling me that this story wasn't going down the drain. I can't tell you how much that meant to me as an author and as a teenage girl. ENJOY! (NCIS is not mine but hey, a girl can dream)**

**Hide**

"Alex!"

Tony looked around, he couldn't see his sister anywhere. Another gunshot reminded him of the situation he was in so he ducked behind a tree. Making sure his gun was loaded he peeked out from behind the tree and fired three rounds at the first person he saw. His heart was pumping wildly, like the time Ziva almost gave them heart pulsations. Fear crept up on him like Gibbs would at the office. He couldn't see his little sister anywhere

Suddenly there was a shout of multiple voices. "Metro PD, drop your weapons!"

"They said drop them!"

Tony sighed in relief when he heard Gibbs' voice. He started to walk towards them when more gunshots were fired, causing him to dive back behind the tree.

After a few moments of silence Gibbs called out "You can come out now DiNozzo."

Tony emerged and saw Gibbs, McGee and Ziva amongst the trees along with four uniformed Metro PD officers. Tony gave them a small smile moved on to his biggest problem at the moment.

Alex

"Alex! Alex, where'd you go!"

Realising Tony's sister was no longer with him, Gibbs, McGee and Ziva started looking around and calling out her name too. Five minutes past and Tony was getting more anxious by the second.

"Tony?" the voice was quiet, but there was no mistaking who it was.

"Alex?" Tony called.

"Over here!"

Tony moved towards his left but he still couldn't see Alex. "Now is not the time for hide and seek Alex!"

"Up here!"

Tony looked up too see his little sister sitting high up in one of the trees. She was sitting on a thick branch, one hand holding the trunk and the other resting on the branch. Her eyes were wide as if her mind wasn't fully comprehending what was going on. Which, Tony guessed, she probably wasn't.

"How'd you get up there?" he asked.

"I'm... I'm not sure," she replied.

"Can you get down?"

"I don't think so."

"DiNozzo?" Gibbs called.

"Over here Boss! Did you try, Alex?"

"I'll fall!"

"That is quite high."

Tony turned to see Ziva standing beside him. "Yeah, it is."

"Can you come and get me Tony? Please?"

"You're still going to have to come down."

"I know. I don't wanna do it by myself!" Alex shook her head rapidly.

"I will go up and get her," Ziva said, as Gibbs and McGee arrived.

"Careful Ziva, some of those branches are unstable," McGee said.

"How to you know that?" Tony asked.

"It's a boy scout thing," Tim replied.

"Which ones are unstable McGee?" Ziva asked. Tim pointed out the weakening connection between the trunk and some of the smaller branches, then pointed out the safest route to Alex even though he was sure she already new it. Ziva climbed rather quickly, and reached Alex in about thirty seconds. The little girl was terrified, and ended up being piggy backed by Ziva on the way down. Once they reached the bottom, Alex ran straight into Tony's arms.

Tony picked her up and held her tight. "Maybe it's not such a good idea to climb up trees."

"Maybe," Alex said, sniffing a little.

Putting Alex down, he looked straight into her green eyes. "Why'd you run off?"

Alex shrugged. "I got scared. They were shooting and you were shooting and..."

"It's okay Alex. I'm just glad that your safe."

**NCIS NCIS NCIS**

Alex refused to move any more than a couple of feet away from Tony, a normal reaction considering what she had gone through. They had left Jethro to guard Sandra, handcuffing her to a pole and tying Jethro up near her. Tim's badge was attached to the dog's collar, letting people know to stay away. Tony stood well away from them, not wanting to let his little sister anywhere near the woman. Sandra road in the car with Gibbs and Ziva while Tony and McGee took Alex back to NCIS.

"Tony?"

"Yeah?"

"Why did she hurt all those people?" there was no question about who _she _was.

Tony glanced at McGee before answering. "Sometimes... sometimes people have bad things happen to them and they get... sick. Because they're sick, they sometimes want to hurt other people."

"So the sickness made her do that stuff?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that."

There was a couple of minutes of silence before Alex decided she had another question. "Tony?"

"Yes Alex?"

"Can I go school now?"

Tony smiled. "I see what I can do."

"Yay! Because I only got to do a couple of weeks of second grade before we left. Being with you and Ziva and Tim and Gibbs and Ducky and Jimmy and Abby is nice but sometimes I just wanna be with other kids."

"I can promise you Alex, you're going back to school. I'm sure Tim here can do some of his computer magic if need be."

"Tony, you are a horrible influence for your little sister."

"Tim, what does in...influence mean?"

The two men in the front seats started laughing and Alex, even though she didn't really understand what was funny, starting laugh too. It felt good to laugh, Alex decided, and with a big brother like Tony, she was probably going to laugh a lot. The giggles died down as they reached the Navy Yard. Tony sighed as he, Alex and Tim walked into the NCIS building. It was time for serious stuff again.

"Can you take Alex to the squad room for me?" Tony asked Tim.

"Why? Where are you going?" Tim replied.

"Interrogation."

"Gibbs isn't going to let you near her."

"I can still go."

"If you insist. Come on Alex."

"Tony?" Alex looked up at her big brother.

"We're at NCIS now Alex, it's safe. Tim's going to be with you," Tony said.

"Okay," Alex moved over to McGee and grabbed his hand, causing the younger agent to look at Tony with wide eyes. Tony just smiled at his friend, who still got a little nervous around young kids. He watched as they left before heading a slightly different way to interrogation. He walked down the hallway and saw Gibbs walking towards him.

"No DiNozzo," Gibbs said without even looking up from the file he was re-reading.

"Boss..."

Gibbs looked up. "No"

"Can I stay in observation?"

"Yes. But if you lose your cool, Ziva has permission to knock you unconscious and drag you out of there."

"Got it Boss, keeping my cool."

Tony walked into the observation room where Ziva was already waiting. Sandra was sitting on the chair, handcuffed. Gibbs entered and Sandra did not flinch at all, in fact, she smiled. "I'm right, aren't I? You found her corpse."

"Nup, Alex is still alive and well."

"What?!" Sandra looked shocked... and very angry. "You can't trust anyone these days. I should have done everything by myself."

"So you admit to committing three murders? Amber Cooper, Lieutenant Aaron Thompson and when you were fifteen, Maria DiNozzo."

"Yep. My only regret is Alex didn't get to be added to that list."

Tony's blood boiled a little at that comment. Luckily what Sandra said was enough for Gibbs to take her away. Tony sighed and rubbed a hand over his face.

"Are you okay Tony?" Ziva asked.

"I'm just glad it's all over"

They walked out of interrogation and back to the squad room. Tim was typing on his computer and looked up when they came in. Seeing his friend's questioning look he said "look under your desk"

Tony went over to his desk and looked underneath it. It took all his strength to not laugh. Alex was sleeping on the floor in a bundle of NCIS jackets. "Alex, time to get up."

Alex's eyes blinked open. "Hi"

"Time to go"

"We're going home?"

"Yeah Alex, we're going home."

**As you can probably tell, I love the word home. It's such a nice word. Anyway, I hope to have my epilogue up by the weekend and then I have a Tim-Centric story involving a kid (I swore I'd stop writing the one type of stories but I have two more and then I am done!) FUN FACT: I have my best friend addicted to NCIS... my life mission is complete!  
****Frani xx**


	8. Epilogue

**A/N: Oh My God! It's finished! Weeks ago, I thought this was never going to end well but look! Thanks to you guys for your wonderful support, without you guys I'd never have completed this story. ENJOY! (NCIS is not mine but I am proud to say I own the plot of this completed story!)**

**Epilogue**

Five Years Later

"Alex, dinner's going to be ready in ten minutes!"

"Okay!"

"And remember there's people here so don't stay holed up in your room all night!"

Alex rolled her eyes as she sat on her bed. It was Friday night which meant dinner night with her brother, Tim and Ziva. A lot of the time Abby, Ducky, Palmer and even Gibbs joined them but that night it was just the four of them. She'd been on the phone for the past half an hour with a friend from school. Phoebe and Alex met on Alex's first day of Princeton Street Elementary and then moved on to Georgetown Middle School together. The thirteen year old looked around her room and smiled. A lot had changed in five years and her room was just the start. Her room was painted a darker blue to the one it first had. There were posters of bands and movies on the walls and her bed now had pale purple covers. There was a mirror on the wardrobe and a desk next to it. In some ways, the desk was Alex's favourite part of the room. It had holders filled with magazines and books, a laptop sitting in the middle and lots of bright stationary. The best bit, however, was the pin board above her desk.

It was covered in photos. There was a corner dedicated to her friends at school, some of their whole group and some of just her and Phoebe. They ranged in dates, there was one from Alex's first weeks at Princeton Street and another Phoebe's mum had taken of them last weekend swimming in the pool in Phoebe's backyard. Almost half of the pin board was just covered in pictures of her favourite things. Pictures of animals, celebrities, places in other countries and some scenery shots Tony had taken when he and Alex took a trip to LA. The last corner was her favourite though. It was full of pictures of her family. There were a few of Alex and her mum that her mum's sister had sent over. She didn't really remember the story behind each picture but they were nice to have. She pulled one of the pictures off the board to look at it closely. It was the first picture taken of her and Tony together, just before her Mum's funeral.

It was a day she remembered quiet clearly. It was warm and sunny. She wore a black dress with a blue sash that she'd bought with Abby and her hair was up in a high pony tail she'd tied like Ziva had taught her. Tony wore a traditional black suit, white shirt, black tie outfit with his NCIS badge attached to the breast pocket. They drove to Philadelphia and she met with her aunt and uncle for the second time in her life, the first being when she was five. The funeral was outside and Alex was surprised about the number of people there. Amber apparently had a lot of friends in Philadelphia and Alex had a few family members. Her Aunty, Uncle and their spouses were their along with their children and their boyfriends, girlfriends, husbands, wives. A two of her cousins even had kids of their own.

Alex put the picture back and picked up another. This one was of the whole team at their apartment after her ninth birthday party.

Tony had allowed her to invite fifteen friends, which had been all the girls in her class. Alex had decided to have her party at the gymnastics centre. The day had been a success with Alex and Phoebe deciding to take up gymnastics as a sport. Not long after they got home the team had shown up bringing dinner. It was the first proper birthday she'd had since they left New York all those years ago and she was never going to forget it.

Alex pulled another one off the board. It was taken a couple of months ago at her east coast gymnastics competition. Once again, it was of her, Tony and the rest of the team.

Twenty gymnastics clubs from up and down the east coast had come to DC for the competition. Since Alex and Phoebe's club was the only one in DC they were essentially representing DC which made Alex a little more nervous. But she and Phoebe's thirteen and under team had taken out top spot in their division and Alex had come second individually. Tony had been extremely proud of her and according to Tim, the whole office knew about it the next day.

Alex pulled one final picture off the wall and brushed a finger over it. It was her first Christmas with Tony. The picture was of Alex curled against Tony sleeping while Tony talked with someone out of the picture.

Christmas had been a bit a chaotic day. The team had got a case three days before and were still working it on Christmas eve. Alex stayed at Abby's house as the team finally caught a break and went to catch their killer. Alex's best present was Tony showing up just after midnight, looking tired and a little sore but smiling and telling Alex it was time to go home. They had Christmas dinner at Ducky's house and despite the previous day everyone was in great spirits.

"Alex, dinner!"

Alex quickly pinned her pictures back up and raced down the hallway. Ziva and Tim were putting something on the salad while Tony pulled chicken out of the oven.

"Ah, she lives!"

"Shut up Tony"

She gave a quick hug to both Tim and Ziva before pulling out a drawer to get knives and forks.

"So how's Phoebe?" Tony asked.

"How'd you know I was talking to Phoebe?" Alex replied.

"Because I know you and I know that you and Phoebe talk on the phone or message on Skype for at least twenty minutes a night."

"Do you know how stalker-ish that sounds Tony?"

"I'm your big brother, I'm allowed to be stalker-ish."

"Tim, is their some sort of rule about Federal Agents being stalkers?"

Tim chuckled. "I don't think this is exactly a stalker case."

"Meh"

They sat down at the table and began to eat.

"So how was school this week Alex?" Ziva asked.

"Alright... the book we're reading for English is pretty good. Spanish is fun, we're starting to learn how to have basic conversations. That reminds me, Tim, I need you to help me with my maths homework. We're doing algebraic equations and the teacher didn't explain how to solve equations with variables on both sides very well. I asked Tony, but you know what Tony's like with maths..."

Tony listened to the conversation, occasionally defending himself. Five years ago, Tony was a single man, living alone and took time off to visit friends from college. A lot had definitely changed in five years.

**THE END! Once again, thank you. I love you guys (in a completely platonic, not creepy way obviously). I'm going to be away for a bit while I get back into the homework rhythm and write so my stories aren't all WIP. I hope to be back on the writing scene in early March though. FUN FACT: I am a very influential person. I have my friends hooked to NCIS, my cousin hooked to Castle and my sis hooked to Hawaii Five-0 and Elementary. Later Hipcats!  
Frani xx  
**


End file.
